章 131: All Out
His tenacious host and the passive skills taking effect notwithstanding, Arthur did not rashly charge toward the humanoid ant. He followed the Cydian Ants and moved the debris while subtly edging closer to his target.
'If it's the leader, then I'm expecting all of them to retaliate once I attack. I need to finish it swiftly and without any mistakes.'
The [Magick Beast] skill was something usable but not by all hosts, nor did it render the parasite capable of casting spells while possessing an incompatible body. Nevertheless, it did allow him to somewhat manipulate Mana, at least enough to use the magical bag and take out anything within it.
Without attracting any attention, Arthur started taking out some Blood Crystals and dropping them on the ground as he moved around. He was steady and cautious, maintaining most of his attention on the target, which seemed to be more sentient than its inferiors.
Minutes passed and Arthur started feeling slightly tense, still, he proceeded with the plan he had quickly come up with and kept dropping one Blood Crystal after the other.
Unfortunately, using the Cydian Ant host, he couldn't inject his blood into the crystals and change them, but having them scattered around the room was better than nothing, especially for later.
Little by little, the distance between him and the ant was growing smaller and smaller until he was only a couple of meters away. The relatively small bag, hidden under his carcass, twitched for a second as it released a momentary glow, followed thereafter by the appearance of a body.
Leonis Sanguis' lifeless body thudded on the ground, but Arthur used his host to cover it and quickly switch bodies. The process took no longer than three seconds as the parasite's vision turned black before he regained his senses.
His body was being buried under the Cydian Ant, but he didn't move and, instead, sharpened his senses to ascertain that he wasn't noticed. Once he was sure things were as they had to be, he took out his newly-acquired weapon: Star Silver Sword.
It was the selfsame sword provided by Sonia Ma, a 3rd-grade Magical Artifact suitable for strong swordsmen.
Arthur had not tried it yet, but with [Sword Mastery(Passive Lv7)], he wasn't particularly worried about being unable to properly wield it. It was all thanks to Evelyn's colleague, whose corpse rewarded Arthur with a decent collection of sword-related skills.
At last, he kicked the Cydian Ant pressing against his body and enveloped himself in green mist. Right after, he used [Enhanced Spell] and [Infernal Cry], which caused a screeching shout to reverberate across the room and stun all the ants.
With the exquisite double-edged sword in his hand, Arthur faced the target and rushed forward. He was initially surprised to see it unaffected by the high-frequency ear-piercing shout he had unleashed, but he still didn't stop his charge.
He moved with insane speed, so much so that the ant didn't have time to react as the silver sword pierced through its torso. Unexpectedly, even with a 3rd-grade Artifact, Arthur wasn't able to shatter the ant's armor.
It staggered a step to the back before it swung its fist at him while letting out an unpleasant croaking sound.
[Sanguis Barrier] appeared in front of the incoming fist, blocking it momentarily before shattering like glass.
Leonis' body was struck in the chest and sent flying in the air before falling on one of the Cydian Ants.
Arthur's vision kept flashing red, however, he was far too shocked to pay any heed to that. He was physically stronger than most humans, or even the veteran Knights, but his sword attack barely did any damage to the ant. In fact, it only cracked its 'armor'.
The Cydian Ants, the Carpenter Ants, and the Giant Ants had yet to recover from his spell, but their leader ran toward the parasite with full-force.
[Mist of Decay] was deployed, bursting from Arthur's body and quickly covering over a third of the room. It allowed him to temporarily obfuscate himself as he flew around and spilled his blood on the scattered crystals.
It took him no more than 15 seconds to do that, but the humanoid ant had finally caught up to his position, its strangely-shaped eyes glowing with an intense violet light.
Like a cannonball, it kicked the ground and lunged at the parasite, swinging its fist again.
In retaliation, Arthur grasped the Star Silver sword with both hands and used [Lunar Blade], which conjured a translucent moon that shone brightly and doubled his stats.
Just as the punch was about to connect, Arthur slashed his weapon vertically, resulting in a violent clash that pushed both of them to the back.
He recovered faster than the enemy and followed up with [Half a Moon]; A silvery energy swirled above him then transformed into a literal half moon, beautiful and powerful as it let out a destructive blast all around him.
The ant was directly hit and its body was blown further to the back, crashing into one of the Giant Ants and literally tearing a hole through its round and bulging body.
Alas, it was time for the remaining insects to recover from the parasite's spell and attack him from all directions, so he successively used four [Sword Blast].
The unidirectional sword slashes were extremely strong, so much that even the Cydian Ants were affected, their carcasses sustaining a deep wound from which green-ish blood oozed out. Even with 90% resistance to physical damage, Arthur's sword attacks were sharp and powerful enough to practically incapacitate the ants. However, the target in question was relatively unscathed.
It got up to its feet, shook its head then clenched its claw-shaped small hands, forming tight fists. It glared at the parasite for a moment before charging again, a deafening growl coming from it as it commanded everything to attack the interloper.
Purely using sword attack to defend against so many opponents was impractical and too much of a waste of Mana, therefore, Arthur switched his tactic.
He rooted his feet to the ground and raised both hands before unleashing a colorless burst of energy all around him, causing all enemies close enough to be swept up by [Wither Blast].
Their resistance notwithstanding, the insects were turned into nothingness and their energies were absorbed by the parasite.
Even their leader stopped its charge and tentatively circled around, clearly afraid that it might be hit too.
Arthur was confident in finishing it off with an empowered [Wither Blast], but his goal was to defeat it without harming the body too much. After all, it was too big of a prize to lose, especially after going through so much effort to reach this place.
He used three [Wither Blast], successfully eradicating over half of the ants in the room. At their leader's command, the rest backed away to the corners and formed a defensive formation.
Upon seeing this, Arthur grinned and went on the full offensive; His figure disappeared into the green mist and, seconds later, large fireballs emerged from on top, raining down on the ants and their leader.
The heat spread across the spacious room and the ants were scorched, falling one after the other. The leader crossed his arms above his head and resisted the fire-aspected spells, but a sudden and high-velocity icicle suddenly came from the side and pierced through its collarbone.
Blood gushed out as it let out a groan of pain. Nonetheless, it didn't fall down, instead, it jumped in the air and spun its airborne body horizontally, shooting a strange arc-shaped violet arc from its feet.
The long-ranged attacks caught Arthur off-guard as pushed away the mist and revealed his location, thus allowing the ant to literally kick the air itself and smash right into him.
It rapidly punched his stomach multiple times then swiftly rotated its body and kicked his side, sending him flying to the ground.
Before he could recover, it fell down on him with another kick directed at his head.
[Sanguis Barrier] appeared at the last second, deflecting the attack before enlarging into a wall and striking the ant.
The ground around the parasite froze and as he got up and controlled the barrier, making it continuously smash against the target.
Unfortunately, the ant was too resistant and even managed to break the barrier and attack again. It appeared in front of him and performed a side-kick, which connected but didn't inflict any damage as Arthur used [Slime Me Not] then [Black Swirl].
The Darkness-aspected spell accurately hit the cracked part of the ant's armor, but that was only the beginning as a semi-illusory long green scythe whistled in the air and struck from down below.
Arthur held the scythe with both hands, using it to pierce the ant's torso and lifting its body above the ground.
He immobilized it for enough time to use [Enhanced Spell] with [Icicle] and [Fireball].
The fire and ice, from such a close distance, were too potent even for the ant as they froze its armor then melted it, causing more disgusting blood to leak out.
While it cried in agony and rage, it tried to grab the scythe and pull the parasite closer, but he let go and jumped back.
'It's still not dead!'
Arthur was truly impressed and surprised to see the ant still standing albeit its many wounds. It was bleeding from the collarbone, the back, and the torso, yet it stood firm and rushed at him again.
The green mist opened up in front of it, revealing a human-sized fireball that crashed into it, stopping its rapid sprint and allowing Arthur to creep dangerously closer.
When he was in range, he put his hand on its head and used [Mind Blast].
The mental shock was quite effective, just like [Black Swirl], which indicated that it was quite vulnerable to Darkness Magic.
Its eyes closed and its body limply fell to the ground, however, Arthur didn't want to take any chances so he used [Mind Blast] five more times. Only when he was able to store it in his bag was he relieved and certain that it died.
This wasn't the end of the battle as the other ants were still living and sticking close to the corners. Arthur took a couple of seconds to collect himself then drifted closer to the massive gate.
He wanted to inspect it closely and figure out what this whole place was, but time wasn't on his side. Things progressively got worse when more ants arrived, specifically those similar to the one had just fought.
Four 'armored' ants appeared, though these ones were holding actual weapons. They looked identical in appearance and their focus was solely on the parasite.
After a momentary hesitation, they rushed forward, their weapons raised and ready to strike.
It was then that the ground shook and the pebbles and debris floated ever-so-slightly above the ground.
Blinding white light emanated from several places around the room, followed by a deep rumbling and a series of large and deadly explosions.
Arthur conjured a sturdy [Sanguis Barrier] and kept his distance as the previously scattered Blood Crystals were triggered. He had used [Wither Touch] to inject them with Mana from a distance away, an effective tactic that bought him enough time to escape.
The explosions were strong enough to seriously injure the ants and allow him to switch to another body and slip back into the corridor unnoticed.
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